Twitch Personality Spends 37 Straight Trying to Beat <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a Single Stick

One could think that two years post-launch since Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of creative self-imposed challenges that impose special restrictions on a playthrough. Yet, although many players have tried to complete Tears of the Kingdom with just a wooden stick, streamer the streamer holds the record as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one branch—meaning, the very same one from start to finish.

The streamer is famous for such challenge runs, such as the instance he played the game solely with explosives or the effort where he tried to beat the story with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, though, sounds impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which requires the hero to use the legendary blade. Additionally, there's the entire durability system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the weakest weapon in the whole world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple answer is glitches. The complete answer, believe it or not, is alternate dimensions. It turns out, you can tweak Tears of the Kingdom's saving mechanism to have distinct game sessions that impact one another. So PointCrow creates a “setup” file where he progresses standardly, and the actual save, where he's limited. The preparatory save has him completing the intro and initial starting area, and this character acquires maximum endurance and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and halts midway through to tell the software to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third save file that merges the conditions of the original two.

This creates new issues, however. The merged file has a protagonist that did not obtain the ability to access sacred places. Luckily, this is an issue that the save glitch addresses readily, but executing it means relying on an buggy build of the title that fails to open some locations. As with other obstacles, he has a technical solution for it: He begins the game on its early version 1.0, and then patches the software partway through to ensure it begins functioning correctly.

Bypassing Durability and Additional Challenges

Interestingly, the introductory version of the hero is programmed so that he cannot damage any weapons he wields, presumably to avoid a scenario where the player gets stuck at the beginning of the game. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the character he pulls between dimensions is the one from the start of the story. It's a smart technique, but not a method that eradicates all possible friction. The stick is nonetheless a weak item that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a copying exploit that grants him an plentiful number of consumables to boost his strength, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows him to clip through the world. A few would find these methods grounds to discredit the legitimacy of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his audience. He also implements a safeguard of sorts stating that, for every spirit he employs, he'll remove a fan from his Twitch chat, establishing an motivation to not depend too much on them.

Major Battles and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to get through several of the game's bosses, but the battles look painful. The video version of his journey spares the audience endure the whole conflicts, which is a blessing when some of them last several hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, takes an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which depletes Link's health as it unfolds, is a memorable tense moment. The unbreakable stick is after all just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone objects midway the battle.

Did he succeed? In a matter of speaking, PointCrow does overcome the dragon version of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to use the Master Sword as the final attack, so technically, it's not fully a branch-exclusive playthrough. But where's the challenge in that?

In the end, PointCrow banned over 1,000 users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.